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This paper illuminates the distinction between individual and organizational actors in business-to-business markets as well as the coexistence of formal and informal mechanisms of coordination in multinational corporations. The main questions addressed include the following. (1) What factors influence the occurrence of personal contacts of foreign subsidiary managers in industrial multinational corporations? (2) How such personal contacts enable coordination in industrial markets and within multinational firms? The theoretical context of the paper is based on: (1) the interaction approach to industrial markets, (2) the network approach to industrial markets, and (3) the process approach to multinational management. The unit of analysis is the foreign subsidiary manager as the focal actor of a contact network. The paper is empirically focused on Portuguese sales subsidiaries of Finnish multinational corporations, which are managed by either a parent country national (Finnish), a host country national (Portuguese) or a third country national. The paper suggests eight scenarios of individual dependence and uncertainty, which are determined by individual, organizational, and/or market factors. Such scenarios are, in turn, thought to require personal contacts with specific functions. The paper suggests eight interpersonal roles of foreign subsidiary managers, by which the functions of their personal contacts enable inter-firm coordination in industrial markets. In addition, the paper suggests eight propositions on how the functions of their personal contacts enable centralization, formalization, socialization and horizontal communication in multinational corporations.

When investigating missing persons cases, witness and suspect statements are often the only available evidence to investigators. As such, forensic linguistics can be useful to police when seeking information from individuals during investigative interviews. The presumption of innocence must be maintained in an investigation, and therefore this study aims to use a method focused on veracity detection, rather than the majority of studies using deception detection approaches.

The current research uses criteria-based content analysis (CBCA), a method that has been applied to a variety of criminal cases. Real-world statements of individuals convicted or found innocent of their involvement in missing persons cases were used in the analyses. Additionally, behaviour sequence analysis (BSA) was used to map language patterns within individuals’ statements.

Results indicated that two individual markers occurred at a high frequency across all four groups (the guilty and innocent statements of both case types); however, differences were noted in the sequences based on an individual’s ability to provide experiential details.

The current research contributes to the growing literature that aims to test CBCA in adult samples across crimes that do not pertain to sexual abuse, in addition to aiding researchers and practitioners to understand better the linguistic differences that occur in missing persons cases.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this type of research, using CBCA to assist with missing person's cases with a temporal method (BSA), has never before been tested. BSA has previously been used in forensic linguistics, and shown support for the method. The current research builds on this in terms of missing persons cases.

The OTS/CafeOBJ method can be used to formally model, specify and verify distributed systems such as security protocols and railroad systems. A distributed system is modeled as an OTS, a kind of transition system, and the OTS is specified and verified with CafeOBJ, an algebraic specification language. Case analysis (or case splitting) is one of the most intellectual pieces of work in verification. Case analysis should be done entirely by hand in the OTS/CafeOBJ method, which is errorprone. It is indispensable to cover all cases and find necessary lemmas for some sub‐cases where desired results are not obtained in case analysis. We propose two methods of mechanically supporting case analysis, which concern these two issues. A case study that the proposed methods are effectively applied to a railroad signaling system is also reported.

Drawing attention to the significant number of unsuccessful (abandoned) cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions in recent years, the purpose of this paper is to analyze three litigated cross-border inbound acquisitions that associated with an emerging economy – India, such as Vodafone-Hutchison and Bharti Airtel-MTN deals in the telecommunications industry, and Vedanta-Cairn India deal in the oil and gas exploration industry. The study intends to explore how do institutional and political environments in the host country affect the completion likelihood of cross-border acquisition negotiations.

Nested within the interdisciplinary framework, the study adopts a legitimate method in qualitative research, that is, case study method, and performs a unit of analysis and cross-case analysis of sample cases.

The critical analysis suggests that government officials’ erratic nature and ruling political party intervention have detrimental effects on the success of Indian-hosted cross-border deals with higher bid value, listed target firm, cash payment, and stronger government control in the target industry. The findings emerge from the cross-case analysis of sample cases contribute to the Lucas paradox – why does not capital flow from rich to poor countries and interdisciplinary M&A literature on the completion likelihood of international takeovers.

The findings have several implications for multinational managers who typically involve in cross-border negotiations. The causes and consequences of sample cases would help develop economy firms who intend to invest in emerging economies. The study also offers some implications of M&A for telecommunications and extractive industries.

Although a huge amount of extant research investigates why M&A fail to create value to the shareholders during the public announcement and post-merger stages, there is a significant dearth of research on the causes and consequences of delayed or abandoned national and international deals. The paper fills this knowledge gap by discussing an in-depth cross-case analysis of Indian-hosted cross-border acquisitions.

Managers of megaprojects face social risk management challenges throughout the various design, construction, and operation stages, owing to the various conflicts of interest among stakeholders, public skepticism, and opposition. However, most existing studies have not focused on the dynamic analysis of integrating social risks in these stages. This study developed a dynamic analysis approach to explore the dynamics of critical social risk factors and related stakeholders of megaprojects and built the managerial maps for various stakeholders.

Based on the social analysis network (SNA), a dynamic network analysis approach for understanding the dynamics of social risk and related stakeholders has been developed by literature and case analysis. The approach comprises the following steps: (1) generating social risk–stakeholder networks in different stages; (2) analysis of the critical stakeholders and social risk factors; (3) dynamic analysis of social risk factors; and (4) developing social risk management maps for various stakeholders. To verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the approach, 40 megaprojects from China were analyzed.

According to the results, the local government is a critical stakeholder during all stages, inadequate information promotion (IIP) and imperfect communication and coordination mechanism (ICCM) are key social risk sources throughout the megaproject life cycle. Furthermore, the management maps for government organizations, project implementation groups, and external stakeholders were constructed.

This research has three contributions. First, a dynamic analysis approach of stakeholder-associated social risks in megaprojects is developed, which enriches the social risk management theory of megaprojects and provides inspiration for future research focus. Second, the social risk–stakeholder networks and critical social risks in different stages are confirmed to provide a more valid and accurate picture of social risk management in megaprojects. Third, the social risk managerial maps for different stakeholders built in this research will be beneficial for governments, project implementation groups, and external stakeholders to optimize management strategies.

Using 12 case studies, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of business analysis techniques in BPR. Some techniques are used more than others depending on the fit between the technique and the problem. Other techniques are preferred due to their versatility, easy to use, and flexibility. Some are difficult to use requiring skills that analysts do not possess. Problem analysis, and business process analysis and activity elimination techniques are preferred for process improvement projects, and technology analysis for technology problems. Root cause analysis (RCA) and activity-based costing (ABC) are seldom used. RCA requires specific skills and ABC is only applicable for discrete business activities.

This is an exploratory case study analysis. The author analyzed 12 existing business reengineering (BR) case studies from the MIS literature. Cases include, but not limited to IBM Credit Union, Chase Manhattan Bank, Honeywell Corporation, and Cigna.

The author identified eight business analysis techniques used in business process reengineering. The author found that some techniques are preferred over others. Some possible reasons are related to the fit between the analysis technique and the problem situation, the ease of use-of-use of the chosen technique, and the versatility of the technique. Some BR projects require the use of several techniques, while others require just one. It appears that the problem complexity is correlated with the number of techniques required or used.

Small sample sizes are often subject to criticism about replication and generalizability of results. However, this research is a good starting point for expanding the sample to allow more generalizable results. Future research may investigate the deeper connections between reengineering and analysis techniques and the risks of using various techniques to diagnose problems in multiple dimensions. An investigation of fit between problems and techniques could be explored.

The author have a better idea which techniques are used more, which are more versatile, and which are difficult to use and why. Practitioners and academicians have a better understanding of the fit between technique and problem and how best to align them. It guides the selection of choosing a technique, and exposes potential problems. For example RCA requires knowledge of fishbone diagram construction and interpreting results. Unfamiliarity with the technique results in disaster and increases project risk. Understanding the issues helps to reduce project risk and increase project success, benefiting project teams, practitioners, and organizations.

Many aspects of BR have been studied but the contribution of this research is to investigate relationships between business analysis techniques and business areas, referred to as BR dimensions. The author try to find answers to the following questions: first, are business analysis techniques used for BR project, and is there evidence that BR affects one or more areas of the business? Second, are BR projects limited to a single dimension? Third, are some techniques better suited for diagnosing problems in specific dimensions and are some techniques more difficult to use than others, if so why?; are some techniques used more than others, if so why?

In this paper, the authors review the literature on the nature of the small and medium-sized enterprise concept. The review examines the broad diversity of terms and definitions used to describe these kinds of firms in scholarly and practical settings. They relate this examination to the concept of small business for the purpose of comparison, in order to highlight differences and similarities between the concepts.

Relevant literature including articles from academia and defining documents from practical settings was identified through a scope literature review. Field data were subsequently collected via questionnaires sent to editors and authors of articles related to the theme. The data were content analyzed and the resulting codes consolidated into dimensions in accordance with the Gioia method. Chi-squared tests were applied to categorical data.

The use of the composite category “small and medium” was found to be predominant in the labeling of small businesses in scientific articles, including those in journals that specialize in small businesses, with no justifications presented for this, characterizing a widespread and consensual practice between authors and editors. In the defining documents of practical settings, however, the authors observed greater consistency and precision both in the terms used and in the delimiting values for a small business (self-employed, micro business, small business). In the sample of 27 defining documents mentioned in the articles, 25 specifically defined “small business” and 20 defined “micro business,” using indicators such as number of employees and annual turnover. The indicators delimiting values regarding the category of micro business were the same in all the documents analyzed and, regarding the category of small business, many documents used the same delimiting values.

Recognizing the “non-large enterprise” myth will provide a more effective posture for editors and authors to avoid using the term “small and medium,” resulting in greater precision, understanding and knowledge regarding small businesses. A better definition of a small business by academia can help public policymakers and managers of organizations that support small businesses to tailor their actions better according to the different sizes of companies. This will also lead to social gains, given the importance of small businesses in terms of job creation and countries' economies.

The authors identified and described the myth of the “non-large enterprise” among academics, characterized by the dichotomous view of the business universe, composed of “large enterprises” and “non-large enterprises,” the latter group being characterized by the widespread use of the term “small and medium.”